


Week-Long Nuclear Winter

by JadeLoverXD



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: FOSecretsanta2020, I Tried, I saw a post about snow in egypt so i did this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:08:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,087
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28455831
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JadeLoverXD/pseuds/JadeLoverXD
Summary: Snow in the Mojave was rare. Northern snow blizzards even rarer in the desert. It would be a welcome change at least. Althea was tired of sweating from brow to buttcrack.Happy New year freaks!
Relationships: Craig Boone & Female Courier, Female Courier & Joshua Graham
Kudos: 5





	Week-Long Nuclear Winter

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesolationIncarnate](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesolationIncarnate/gifts).



> I never played this game before so I kinda panicked and discovered what I could lmao.

Her fingers were sore after the last bit of rusted .45 autos were scrubbed clean, a heavy sigh escaping her as she eyes the bandages on the man's arms. How and where he managed to get a fresh change of bandages, she has no idea. The first time upon meeting him, she would be thought he never changed them, and the sun had baked the bandages into his ruined skin.

"Do those hurt?"

He doesn't answer at first, choosing, instead to gently place the one in his hand to the side, "They do."

"You don't show it."

"Because most of me is too pained to even grimace at the slightest sound of metal scraping together."

Althea leans back in her seat, a brow-raising as she asks, "So what if you're not in pain? Do you make the weirdest faces possible?" Joshua levels an irritated look at her. "You made one just now." She points out.

"Why are you bothering me, Thea?"

Tomorrow, she would be leaving for Nevada—unless a miracle happened to keep her close to her newfound friend. The weather had been oddly cooler, and the current rain outside felt like ice droplets by the time she made it to the cave. Snow in the Mojave was rare. Northern snow blizzards even rarer in the desert. It would be a welcome change at least. Althea was tired of sweating from brow to buttcrack.

"I wanted to see my best friend before I left. Is that such a bad thing to do?"

"If you've come to sabotage my moment's of peace, yes." He finishes examining the last .45 before setting it down with a sigh, "More questions?"

She grins. He knew her well, "What does the rain feel like to you?"

"Relieving."

"Have you ever seen snow?" 

A nod, "Once, long before I joined..." He trails, and shakes his head,

"But that was a lifetime ago." Before Caesar, before he became The Burned Man, he meant. 

Althea tugs on the long sleeve of her jacket before asking, "The rain feels like ice now. Maybe it could snow later on."

A brow raises, "Why maybe?"

"My mother used to tell me that snow in the Mojave meant luck was headed our way, that's how I was born anyways." She says bitterly,

"For her snow meant joy, it meant everything good. I never asked her why that was before she died, and to this day I still wonder why. Sometimes, I wish for snow just to see, to understand what she meant."

Joshua eases himself into the chair next to him, eyes flicking to the cavern where booming laughter sounds. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I've told you plenty of my drunk stories, but I've never told you one of my stories while I'm drunk." She wipes her hands on the rag, "Or are you gonna give me one of them weird faces while I sit here and eat my apple?"

Joshua did indeed give her weird faces as she told her stories while slightly intoxicated. The caverns had gotten a bit colder—would be much colder it there weren't fire pits already lit. By then, the two were locked into a staring contest, Joshua's look of contempt not changing in the slightest until she sneezed, startling him in his seat.

Althea bit her tongue to hold back the laugh that bubbled in her throat, though not the amused expression when he audibly cursed and glares at her. 

"So who won? Me or you?" 

"You are an immature child." He mutters.

"That is true." She giggles, "Did I tell you about the time I almost shot my friend Boone in the balls?"

"No, and I'd not like to hear it." 

"...too bad I'm going to tell you anyway, " She continued, "So it was after a really big battle with the Legion—"

He stood, rolling his eyes, "I'm going outside." 

"—and there was this ONE GUY WHO TRIED TO SHOOT ME IN THE HEAD!" She yells after him.

* * *

"It looks like powder." 

"That's stupid Graham, why would it be raining powder?"

"Why does it rain water?"

"I don't know? Maybe because it's drier than a deathclaw's—"

"Finish that sentence and I'll make you freeze out here." Althea stuck her tongue out at him, extending her hands out to catch the white substance.

"It's pretty." She comments, watching as it turned to liquid in her hands. "Are you cold?"

"Only slightly," he sighs, "I don't want to get my bandages wet."

They stood under the cave entrance just underneath the cliff above them, observing the canyon as snow and ice glittered in the air. Maybe her mother was just imagining things, or maybe her words to Althea might just come true if luck existed.

Maybe.

"I was a kid the last time I saw snow." Joshua starts, "I can remember falling in a muddy puddle and losing a tooth after a rock ended up in my mouth."

"How did you end up with a rock in your mouth?" Althea giggles.

"My mouth was open. And someone had pushed me down." She could hear the amusement in his voice then. Tentatively, his own hand reaches out, catching the falling snow in his palm, "That was my first time experiencing cold mud and a nuclear winter. But it only lasted for a few days." It melts, droplets of water forming in his palm. Joshua stares at the liquid a bit longer before he retracts, shaking his hand.

"I will be saddened to see you go, Thea," he admits. "You've helped us with more than you can imagine."

"Aw, I'll be sad to see me go too." Her next action was tricky, she planned to hug him, but she wasn't sure how he'd react. _He'd probably drop dead._ "Can I hug you?"

"No." _He probably thinks he'll drop dead too._

Her supposed 'last' night there in Zion had turned into a week. Three days she had to wait before returning to the Mojave, and four more before she was absolutely certain. She managed to sneak in one hug from Joshua without being throttled for her actions, even convinced him to have a snowball fight with her out away from the cave.

"And so that, dearest Boone, is how I made another friend." She finishes her story with a clap, kicking the rock under her foot. She looks up, hearing the non-committal grunt of Boone as he continues cleaning his rifle, "You could at least pretend you're listening."

"I thought I wasn't."


End file.
